A new book, "The Synodal Process Is a Pandora's Box: 100 Questions and Answers," addresses the "serious situation" brought on by the synod, Cardinal Raymond Burke (pictured, centre) says.

Pope Francis is risking confusion and even schism in leading the upcoming Synod on Synodality in Rome, Burke writes in the book's preface.

"Synodality and its adjective, synodal, have become slogans behind which a revolution is at work to change radically the Church's self-understanding, in accord with a contemporary ideology which denies much of what the Church has always taught and practised," he continues.

It should concern all Catholics "who observe the evident and grave harm" that it has brought on the church.

The word synodality, the cardinal added, is "a term which has no history in the doctrine of the Church and for which there is no reasonable definition."

It leads to "confusion and error and their fruit — indeed schism," he says in the preface.

He backs this view citing the German Synodal Path, where church leaders consulted with lay and religious Catholics in Germany between December 2019 and March 2023.

Female ordination and blessing same-sex couples were among the issues the German consultation explored.

"With the imminent Synod on Synodality, it is rightly to be feared that the same confusion and error and division will be visited upon the universal Church. In fact, it has already begun to happen through the preparation of the Synod at the local level," Burke wrote.

The only way to uncover the "ideology at work" within the Vatican and "undertake true reform," was to turn to the "unchanging and unchangeable doctrine and discipline of the church," Burke's preface says.

He entrusted to the Virgin Mary his prayer that "the grave harm which presently threatens the Church be averted."

The synod on synodality

Francis's aims for the synod are to promote inclusivity, transparency and accountability in the Church.

After three years of world-wide consultations with Catholics, bishops and lay Catholics will gather in Rome in October under the rubric of "Synodality: Communion, Participation and Mission."

Agenda items drawn from concerns Catholics raised in diocesan forums include LGBTQ Catholics' inclusion and female leadership.

Those topics have convinced conservative Catholics that the synod will lead to changes in Catholic doctrine on questions of morality and sexuality.

The authors, the publisher and Burke

Co-authors José Antonio Ureta and Julio Loredo de Izcue are South American scholars and activists.

The publisher Tradition, Family and Property says "despite its potentially revolutionary impact, the debate around this synod has been limited primarily to ‘insiders' and the general public knows little about it."

Burke has long been a vocal opponent of Pope Francis's vision for the church.

He and three other cardinals publicly questioned Francis's decision in "Amoris Laetitia" for divorced and remarried Catholics to receive the Eucharist. Burke has also criticised efforts in the church to promote the welcoming of LGBTQ faithful.

Source

• Religion News Service
• America Magazine

In an op-ed Spadaro,defended Francis from the criticism that he had not answered the quetions put to him by 4 cardinals.

"I think that Amoris Laetitia has created an open and interesting debate within the Catholic Church thanks to Francis, a Pope who never blocks dialogue, if it is loyal and motivated by the good of the Church."

Pope Francis has responded to the letters indirectly. He has criticised "a certain legalism" in the response to his document.

"Some continue not to understand," he said in an interview November 17 with the Italian Catholic newspaper, Avvenire. "Think about certain responses to Amoris Laetitia — it's either black or white, even though it's in the flow of life that one must discern."

But the cardinals' letter, called a dubia, is an official request for a Yes or No answer from the Pope.

Not having received a such a direct response the cardinals published their letter on various Catholic news sites.

The questions focus particularly on the issue of giving communion to divorced and remarried Catholics, which footnote (#351) in Amoris Laetitia says could be allowed "in certain cases."

Spadaro said the questions had already raised during the Synod, "where the dialogue was deep, extensive and most of all, frank."

Amoris Laetitia is only the mature fruit of Francis' reflection after listening to everyone and reading the Synod's final document.

It is the result of a Synod and not just a personal idea of the Pontiff, as some might think.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, one of the signers of the letter, told the National Catholic Register that if Francis does not answer, he will spearhead a "formal act of correction" of the Pontiff — something that has never happened for 100s of years.

Source

• edition.cnn.com
• edition.cnn.com
• ncregister.com

In light of the fact that the early Church also faced this perplexing pastoral challenge, Kasper introduces a number of witnesses who, he argues, potentially indicate a way forward for the contemporary Church toward a pastoral praxis that goes "beyond both rigorism and laxity." (p. 31).

However, in invoking the early Christian sources, it appears that Kasper, despite acknowledging that the response of the early church Fathers was "not uniform" (p. 31), somewhat misrepresents the evidence, and does so in such a way as to advance his argument in a certain direction as though it were supported by the sources he cites.

Moreover, having quoted just one author, he goes on to give the impression that the statement reflects a united and considered witness, even a consensus proceeding from certain justifications and eventually "confirmed" at a conciliar level (pp. 31 and 37).

Limiting itself to the Greek sources explicitly mentioned by Kasper—Origen, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, and the Council of Nicaea—and leaving aside the position of Augustine and later western Christian practice, it is the purpose of this report to clarify what in fact these sources actually say, not in order to discredit the cardinal or his proposals, but all the better to elucidate the real difficulties currently faced by the Church in its effort faithfully and pastorally to bring the Gospel to bear in the concrete life-situations of divorced and remarried Catholics. Continue reading

Sources

• Adam G. Cooper, The Catholic World Report
• Image: St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College

Adam G. Cooper is senior lecturer at the John Paul II Institute for Marriage & Family in Melbourne, Australia.